1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to safety bindings adapted to be positioned on monoskis in order to maintain two shoes or boots on the monoski, and more specifically to safety bindings which are adapted to have related movements in order to releasably retain such shoes or boots on a monoski.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Material
Conventional safety bindings are known as either "front abutment" types, which are adapted to insure the immobilization of the front portions of shoes or boots on a ski; and other conventional safety bindings are known as "rear abutment" types, which are particularly adapted to maintain the rear ends of a shoe or boot on a ski.
One known front abutment type generally comprises a fixed body which is adapted to be attached to a ski and which includes a retention jaw which is adapted to laterally pivot, either rightwardly or leftwardly, against elastic biasing means to define a release threshold for the binding, i.e., to define a value of the force which must necessarily be provided by the shoe in order to have the shoe or boot be removed from (i.e., released by) the binding. The front abutment insures the safety of the skier by responding, via its lateral release of the boot, to excessive torsional biasing with respect to the leg of a skier. One typical such front abutment is disclosed in French Patent No. 2,536,666 commonly assigned with the present application, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The rear abutment or heel binding generally comprises a jaw which is journalled on a body about a transverse axis so that it is pivotable between a position in which it retains a rear portion of the shoe or boot on the ski, and a position in which it liberates or permits the boot to be freed from the binding. One such known rear abutment binding structure is described, e.g., in French Patent No. 2,494,591. In this patent the rear abutments are generally positioned so as to slide longitudinally and are biased by springs in order to elastically maintain the abutments against the shoes or boots in the longitudinal direction of the ski.
Safety binding apparatus for monoskis generally comprise two independent safety binding assemblies. Each of the assemblies includes a front abutment or binding and a rear abutment or binding for maintaining a ski shoe or boot thereon. Each of the safety binding assemblies is adapted to release under the influence of a bias force exerted on it by the shoe which it retains.
The monoski is generally used with two shoes or boots attached on its upper surface, but on occasion the user will attach only a single shoe to the monoski, with the second shoe remaining free. Such a use is necessary if the monoski is to be used, e.g., on certain mechanical lifts. It therefore becomes necessary that the single shoe attached to the monoski does not release from the ski at an untimely moment, thus separating the skier from the monoski in an undesirable fashion.
However, after a boot or shoe has been either laterally or vertically released from one pair of bindings, the user generally finds himself still connected to the monoski by the other pair of bindings. The forces applied to the leg which is still attached to the monoski by the bindings can then increase and become more substantial, particularly in view of the wide configuration of the monoski, and because the monoski has a higher inertia than an ordinary ski. As a result, the risks of the second leg of the user breaking are thus substantially increased; and it is therefore important to at least substantially reduce the release threshold on the remaining retained leg.